The CPN (Maoist Centre)’s decision to dismantle the ruling coalition has made the half-finished transitional justice process uncertain.

The third largest party pulled out of the government on Tuesday, accusing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli of not honouring the nine-point pact and the gentlemen’s agreement reached with the CPN-UML.

UML Chair Oli and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal had, on May 5, sealed a nine-point deal, giving a new lease of life to the government on condition that the former rebel party would get an upper hand in dealing with transitional justice issues.

The ruling parties had agreed to “initiate amendment to laws and other procedures within 15 days with a time-bound plan on transitional justice as per the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement”.

At the initiative of the Attorney General’s Office, the government has readied four bills to be tabled in Parliament for endorsement—amendments to Enforced Disappearances Enquiry; Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, 2071; bill to criminalise torture and disappearance; and bill to expedite the transitional justice process.

With a change in government imminent, the process of enacting the laws crucial for the transitional justice process is sure to be delayed. “Without amendment to the existing laws and enactment of laws criminalising torture and disappearance, we will not be able to come up with a complete report acceptable to victims and the human rights community,” said Surya Kiran Gurung, chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The commission has been registering complaints from conflict victims across the country. The tenure of the Local Peace Committees (LPCs), through which the commission received the cases, expires on Friday. Their tenure has not been extended.

In an ad-hoc measure, the commission used the LPCs as its liaison offices at the local level. “We are worried about the status of the LPCs—a vital link between the victims and the commission,” said Gurung.

The commission has not started investigation into the complaints received over the past three months, which reached 51,000 on Tuesday.

The transitional justice process has already been delayed by almost a decade. Further delays in endorsing the laws will hamper the works of the commission that has only seven months of its two-year tenure.

“I think the Maoists felt that the government was not doing enough to pass laws and regulations so that it could grant amnesty to its cadres in rights violation,” said Advocate Dipendra Jha.

“One side of the UML was promising changes in laws while on the other, lawyers and NGO- affiliates, as well as media, were pushing in private conversation for prosecution. This double standard gives a sense of doubt to the Maoists.”

One of the major agendas of the former rebel party is settlement of conflict-era cases through transitional justice mechanisms and the nine-point agreement assures amnesty for wartime crimes.

“I think the UML should have clearly said to the Maoists what is possible and what is not in transitional justice cases. Its false promise made for the sake of sustaining the coalition finally backfired,” said Jha.

Unless the Maoists enter a new agreement with their new coalition partner to expedite the process, the fate of justice for the conflict victims is uncertain.